Grant’s Tomb gets big makeover to boost upper Manhattan tourist attraction
Visting the Morningside Heights tomb of the 18th President just got better with the addition of a brand-new visitors center.
Overlook Pavilion in Riverside Park, across from the General Grant National Memorial, was recently revamped and now serves as an attraction for visitors.
It opened with a thunderous boom on what would have been Ulysses S. Grant‘s 189th birthday.
A cannon blast, which had students from Harlem‘s Public School 153 plugging their ears, was among highlights at the ribbon cutting last week.
Ulysses Grant Dietz, the great-great grandson of the Civil War general, also attended the annual celebration.
“For years, it didn’t have any of amenities for visitors,” said Darren Boch, a National Park Service spokesman. “This is more of a traditional national park experience now.”
The pavilion, which overlooks the Hudson River, had been closed since the mid- 1970s due to the city’s financial crisis. Nearly 40 years later, the exterior of the pavilion has been restored to how it looked when it opened in 1910. But the inside underwent a massive overhaul that now includes a bookstore, restrooms and a community meeting room.
The tomb, which for over 100 years has served as the final resting place for Grant and his wife, Julia Dent, is the largest mausoleum in North America. Grant, who served two terms as President, died of cancer in 1885. He was 63.
Last year, the tomb, located at W. 122nd St. and Riverside Drive, was visited by 120,000 people, Boch said.
BY Michael J. Feeney
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER